Transmitter beamforming steering matrix processing and storage

Abstract

A mechanism for processing beamforming steering matrices in a transceiver system. A plurality of beamforming steering matrices associated with a plurality of subcarriers of an RF signal received at the transceiver system are generated. The beamforming steering matrices are compressed and stored. The beamforming steering matrices may also be grouped or sub-sampled prior to being stored. The beamforming steering matrices are decompressed and ungrouped before being applied to data to be transmitted. Prior to ungrouping the beamforming steering matrices, a phase difference between corresponding beamforming steering vectors of consecutive beamforming steering matrices is determined. Phase rotation is performed on the corresponding beamforming steering vectors based on the determined phase difference associated with the corresponding beamforming steering vectors to improve phase continuity between consecutive beamforming steering matrices.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. The method comprising:
 determining, at a transceiver system, a phase difference between corresponding beamforming steering vectors of each pair of consecutive beamforming steering matrices of a plurality of beamforming steering matrices, wherein the plurality of beamforming steering matrices are associated with a plurality of subcarriers of a radio frequency (RF) signal received at the transceiver system; 
 performing phase rotation on the corresponding beamforming steering vectors of a pair of consecutive beamforming steering matrices based, at least in part, on the determined phase difference to improve phase continuity between consecutive beamforming steering matrices; 
 interpolating the beamforming steering matrices to ungroup the beamforming steering matrices; and 
 applying the beamforming steering matrices to data to be transmitted by the transceiver system to generate beamformed data streams. 
 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 determining whether the phase difference between the corresponding beamforming steering vectors of the pair of consecutive beamforming steering matrices is greater than π/2; and 
 performing phase rotation on the corresponding beamforming steering vectors of the pair of consecutive beamforming steering matrices with the phase difference that is greater than π/2. 
 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 2 , wherein said performing phase rotation on the corresponding beamforming steering vectors of the pair of consecutive beamforming steering matrices with the phase difference that is greater than π/2 comprises rotating by π one beamforming steering vector of the corresponding beamforming steering vectors of the pair of consecutive beamforming steering matrices with the phase difference that is greater than π/2. 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 determining that the corresponding beamforming steering vectors of the pair of consecutive beamforming steering matrices have a phase difference between the corresponding beamforming steering vectors; and 
 rotating, by the determined phase difference, one of the corresponding beamforming steering vectors of the pair of consecutive beamforming steering matrices. 
 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 compressing the plurality of beamforming steering matrices; and 
 storing the plurality of beamforming steering matrices. 
 
     
     
       6. The method of  claim 5 , further comprising grouping the plurality of beamforming steering matrices prior to said storing the plurality of beamforming steering matrices. 
     
     
       7. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 determining the plurality of beamforming steering matrices based, at least in part, on the plurality of subcarriers of the RF signal received at the transceiver system. 
 
     
     
       8. The method of  claim 7 , further comprising:
 determining channel estimates for the plurality of subcarriers of the received RF signal; and 
 wherein said determining the plurality of beamforming steering matrices comprises performing singular value decomposition (SVD) on the channel estimates to generate the plurality of beamforming steering matrices. 
 
     
     
       9. The method of  claim 7 , wherein said determining the plurality of beamforming steering matrices comprises generating a beamforming steering matrix for each of the plurality of subcarriers associated with the received RF signal. 
     
     
       10. A communication device comprising:
 a phase estimation unit operable to determine a phase difference between corresponding beamforming steering vectors of each pair of consecutive beamforming steering matrices of a plurality of beamforming steering matrices, wherein the plurality of beamforming steering matrices are associated with a plurality of subcarriers of an RF signal received at the communication device; 
 a phase rotation unit operable to perform phase rotation on the corresponding beamforming steering vectors of a pair of consecutive beamforming steering matrices based, at least in part, on the determined phase difference to improve phase continuity between consecutive beamforming steering matrices; 
 an interpolation unit operable to interpolate the beamforming steering matrices to ungroup the beamforming steering matrices; and 
 a beamforming processing unit operable to apply the beamforming steering matrices to data to be transmitted by the communication device to generate beamformed data streams. 
 
     
     
       11. The communication device of  claim 10 , wherein:
 the phase estimation unit is operable to determine whether the phase difference between the corresponding beamforming steering vectors of the pair of consecutive beamforming steering matrices is greater than π/2; and 
 the phase rotation unit is operable to perform phase rotation on the corresponding beamforming steering vectors of the pair of consecutive beamforming steering matrices with the phase difference that is greater than π/2. 
 
     
     
       12. The communication device of  claim 11 , wherein the phase estimation unit operable to perform phase rotation on the corresponding beamforming steering vectors of the pair of consecutive beamforming steering matrices with the phase difference that is greater than π/2 comprises the phase estimation unit operable to rotate by π one beamforming steering vector of the corresponding beamforming steering vectors of the pair of consecutive beamforming steering matrices with the phase difference that is greater than π/2. 
     
     
       13. The communication device of  claim 10 , wherein:
 the phase estimation unit is operable to determine that the corresponding beamforming steering vectors of the pair of consecutive beamforming steering matrices have a phase difference between the corresponding beamforming steering vectors; and 
 the phase rotation unit is operable to rotate, by the determined phase difference, one of the corresponding beamforming steering vectors of each of the pair of consecutive beamforming steering matrices. 
 
     
     
       14. The communication device of  claim 10 , further comprising:
 a compression unit operable to compress the plurality of beamforming steering matrices; and 
 a storage unit operable to store the plurality of beamforming steering matrices. 
 
     
     
       15. The communication device of  claim 14 , further comprising a grouping unit operable to group the plurality of beamforming steering matrices prior to the storage unit storing the plurality of beamforming steering matrices. 
     
     
       16. The communication device of  claim 10 , further comprising:
 a steering matrix computation unit operable to determine the plurality of beamforming steering matrices based, at least in part, on the plurality of subcarriers of the RF signal received at the communication device. 
 
     
     
       17. The communication device of  claim 16 , further comprising:
 a channel estimation unit operable to determine channel estimates for the plurality of subcarriers of the received RF signal; and 
 wherein the steering matrix computation unit operable to determine the plurality of beamforming steering matrices comprises a singular value decomposition (SVD) unit operable to perform SVD on the channel estimates to generate the plurality of beamforming steering matrices. 
 
     
     
       18. A machine-readable storage medium having instructions stored therein, which when executed by a processor causes the processor to perform operations that comprise:
 determining, at a transceiver system, a phase difference between corresponding beamforming steering vectors of each pair of consecutive beamforming steering matrices of the plurality of beamforming steering matrices, wherein the plurality of beamforming steering matrices are associated with a plurality of subcarriers of an RF signal received at the transceiver system; 
 performing phase rotation on the corresponding beamforming steering vectors of a pair of consecutive beamforming steering matrices based, at least in part, on the determined phase difference to improve phase continuity between consecutive beamforming steering matrices; 
 interpolating the beamforming steering matrices to ungroup the beamforming steering matrices; and 
 applying the beamforming steering matrices to data to be transmitted by the transceiver system to generate beamformed data streams. 
 
     
     
       19. The machine-readable storage medium of  claim 18 , wherein the operations further comprise:
 determining whether the phase difference between the corresponding beamforming steering vectors of the pair of consecutive beamforming steering matrices is greater than π/2; and 
 performing phase rotation on the corresponding beamforming steering vectors of the pair of consecutive beamforming steering matrices with the phase difference that is greater than π/2. 
 
     
     
       20. The machine-readable storage medium of  claim 19 , wherein said operation of performing phase rotation on the corresponding beamforming steering vectors of the pair of consecutive beamforming steering matrices with the phase difference that is greater than π/2 comprises rotating by π one beamforming steering vector of the corresponding beamforming steering vectors of the pair of consecutive beamforming steering matrices with the phase difference that is greater than π/2. 
     
     
       21. The machine-readable storage medium of  claim 18 , wherein the operations further comprise:
 determining that the corresponding beamforming steering vectors of the pair of consecutive beamforming steering matrices have a phase difference between the corresponding beamforming steering vectors; and 
 rotating, by the determined phase difference, one of the corresponding beamforming steering vectors of the pair of consecutive beamforming steering matrices. 
 
     
     
       22. The machine-readable storage medium of  claim 18 , wherein the operations further comprise:
 compressing the beamforming steering matrices; and 
 storing the beamforming steering matrices. 
 
     
     
       23. The machine-readable storage medium of  claim 22 , wherein the operations further comprise grouping the beamforming steering matrices prior to said operation of storing the beamforming steering matrices. 
     
     
       24. The machine-readable storage medium of  claim 18 , wherein the operations further comprise:
 determining the plurality of beamforming steering matrices based, at least in part, on the plurality of subcarriers of the RF signal received at the transceiver system. 
 
     
     
       25. The machine-readable storage medium of  claim 24 , wherein the operations further comprise:
 determining channel estimates for the plurality of subcarriers of the received RF signal; and 
 wherein said operation of determining channel estimates for the plurality of subcarriers of the received RF signal comprises performing singular value decomposition (SVD) on the channel estimates to generate the plurality of beamforming steering matrices.